Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Arbitrary Dealer

Chapter 15: Arbitrary Dealer

 

“Now, Miss Arbitrary Dealer. It’s your turn,” said the retired colonel as he motioned towards the empty gymnasium.

Moira nodded and walked to the center. The moment she reached there, multiple targets surrounded her at once. Unlike Kwame's test, these targets were not as numerous and as spread out throughout the arena. Instead, they were only centered on her. Another visible difference was that some of these targets had different color schemes.

“Alright, your test is not as straightforward. Since your artifact is capable of multiple actions, we have the corresponding targets. The red ones are ‘injured’. They will start blinking randomly. Once they do, if you don’t help them, they’ll ‘die’ in twenty seconds. You can’t really trigger the effect since it is just a hologram. As long as the correct card makes contact, I’ll consider the target cleared. But you can only hit them after they start blinking. The yellow ones will fire at you in set intervals. Harmless holo projectiles, so don't be afraid. I still want you to dodge or block them, regardless. The blue ones are stationary targets. We'll start the moment you materialize your artifact," said Don.

Moira stood stock still for a few seconds and closed her eyes in concentration. She then opened them and lifted both her hands. A rectangular object materialized in her left hand, and a yellow holographic projectile headed for her immediately.

As she jumped out of the way, with a snapping sound, a card flew into her right hand. It was then that Parth realized what she was holding in her left hand.

The rectangular object he saw was a deck of cards. He watched on as Moira threw the card into the closest target.

It moved unnaturally fast and went through the target. It also glowed with a blue light as it flew in the air. Upon contact, the target disappeared at once. The card lost speed gradually and hit the ground.

“Oh,” Parth said in surprise, as the card pierced into the ground and got embedded halfway through.

By then, Moira had already moved from her spot. With a twitch of her finger, she snapped the topmost card of the deck to her right hand.

It was an impressive trick. Parth wondered whether she had learned it, or whether there was some amount of telekinesis involved.  If so, throwing the card made no sense.

He watched on, as Moira threw that card right between two targets. This card glowed with a red light. He thought that she might have missed, but then the card exploded right when it was between the two targets; taking them both out at the same time. She had not stopped moving, as she snapped another card to her throwing arm. This one though, she discarded into the ground and snapped the next card into her hand.

By now, another yellow target had fired at her. In response, she threw the new card in front of her.

Before it could even go a few feet further, it glowed bright yellow and transformed into a transparent barrier in front of her. The holo projectile hit the yellow barrier and disappeared at once. The barrier held strong, so she stayed on the spot and drew another card.

This one shone with a blue light as well, as it flew towards a target in the distance. It was faster than the previous blue card and took out the target. By the time it had made contact, she had taken out another card and had thrown it on a red target.

The glowing green card hit the red target and the target disappeared at once as the card harmlessly hit the ground. This one did not trigger any effect, as Don had already mentioned.

Moira though, was a blur of motion as she snapped card after card into her hand and began throwing them towards the various targets. Some cards were faster than others and seemed to do more damage. One red card in particular had taken out an entire cluster of targets.

Things went on in a similar vein for a little while, until Moira cleared out all the targets.

She then stood straight and vanished the deck. At the same time, the discarded cards and the cards embedded in the floor disappeared as well.

“Three minutes. The time is justified, as your targets were way more complex. But can you tell me a few ways in which you could have improved?” said the old man.

"I wasted time in the beginning, deciding what to do with each card. And I missed one red target before it 'died' after twenty seconds," she said.

"Yes. But decision-making comes with practice. Your biggest fault was that you did not augment your body with mana while throwing the cards. You banked on the intrinsic speed of the cards to do the job. Aiding your throws with mana could have shortened your time by a lot," he said.

Moira blinked for a moment and then scrunched her face in annoyance. She nodded at him, acknowledging his advice. It looked like she was annoyed at herself for not thinking of it in the first place.

“You know the drill,” said the grumpy old man.

“Yes. I suppose I have to explain how my artifact works,” she said as she summoned the deck onto her left hand once more.

She held the deck with both hands and began to do one of the most impressive and complex shuffles Parth had ever seen. A few cards flew into the air as she split the deck in half between both hands and held portions of it between her fingers. She moved her hands in an intricate pattern, and then closed them together. Right as the clumps of cards came together, the airborne cards fell in between them.

“Tada,” she said with a deadpan and held the deck in front of her. The cards were face down, ready to be drawn. The back of the cards seemed to display an intricate design. The pattern itself was made up of thin glowing lines of five different colors.

“For one, it made me a master of cardistry. I can do all sorts of card tricks off the top of my head.”

Right as she said that, her left hand twitched, and the topmost card shot to her right hand in an instant. The card had even flipped midair to reveal what card it was. It was a four of clubs. Unlike the standard black color of the suite, this one was red. The numbers and the three-leaf clover symbols themselves were glowing with the same color.

Kwame whistled in appreciation.

"This cuts down on drawing time. Also, I can aim cards pretty well," she said as she held the card between her index and middle finger and flung it to the side.

Once the card went a little farther away from them, it burst into a red explosion.

"As you might have seen, there are four different effects. Each effect is reserved for a suit. Spades have great piercing power. Clubs explode. Hearts heal. Diamonds create stationary barriers. The potency of the effect and the speed of the card midair are determined by the number on it. Ace is the strongest. King is second best, and so it goes right until two," she said.

Parth and Kwame stood still in silence as they grasped what she had said.

It was an absurd artifact. Sure, individually, it couldn’t beat the Pygilist and the Knuckleball in a head-to-head fight. But paired with allies, this artifact can change the course of the battle quite easily. Now he understood why Celeste said that this was the most versatile artifact. He could see why Lord Kach would have been involved in a massive bidding war for this artifact. It could do everything. Attack, defend, and heal. That was a game-changer.

"The usage itself differs from card to card. Like, the spades and the clubs are straightforward offensive cards. Hearts heal a set amount based on the number on the card. Can't take care of dismemberment and death. Apart from that, anything is game. Diamonds are a bit different. Once activated, the barrier will stay there. The duration of its deployment, and its defensive power depends on the number as well," she continued.

“That’s awesome,” said an awestruck Kwame. He then had an immediate question to ask, “Do you have jokers?”

"Yeah. Two jokers. Jokers can mimic the effect of any suit at maximum potency," she said.

“So, how strong are the Aces then?” asked Parth.

"I know that it scales with my mana reserves. During my fight with the golem, I used five of clubs. The explosion that you saw just now? That's stronger than the one back then. So I know that it got a bit stronger. I'm not sure what the upper limit is," she said. 

"Now that you have the ring, you can look at the records and see how your predecessors have performed," said Parth.

“Yeah, I want to find out more about mine too. Need to learn how to control it properly at higher speeds,” pitched in Kwame.

“Ugh,” grunted Moira as she shuffled the cards absentmindedly. Effortlessly. 

“What about consumption and limitations?” asked Parth.

“A card primes the moment I draw it. Consumption is higher for the higher numbers and vice versa. Limitations are a bit weird though,” she said, her face scrunched up in annoyance.

“Like what?” asked Kwame.

“I can’t see the order of the cards. If I draw a card, I have to either use it, discard it, or send it to the bottom of the deck. If I don’t follow these rules, the next drawn cards won’t be primed. I’d have to reshuffle it to get it working. So I can’t hold onto a strong card in reserve and use the other ones,” she said.

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Parth winced in sympathy, because that restriction was pretty steep. It now made sense why she had discarded a couple of cards during her run.

"But why do you have to discard them? Can't you always put them back in the deck?" asked Kwame.

"Mainly because of speed. In that situation, placing it back in the deck would have taken a bit of time. Also because it didn't suit the situation. I drew an ace of red. At that time, there was a target that required healing within all the clusters. An ace would have blown it apart along with the rest. So I discarded it away. I got a heart in between, and none of the red targets were blinking at that time, so it was not needed then. That one, I put back in the deck," she said.

“Is recalling your artifact back to the tattoo the only way to get the discarded cards?” asked Parth.

"Not really. If all fifty-four cards are used up or discarded, the deck returns to my hand, reshuffled and ready to go. If I just recall the deck when some cards are lying on the floor, they are placed back on the deck and reshuffled," she said. "I think the limitation is placed for mana conservation. If I was enthusiastic and threw aces and face cards one after the other, I'd run out of mana easily. But frankly, it is odd. During the time of an emergency, it will eat up time."

Parth had to agree that the limitations throttled it a bit. But the artifact itself was very handy, so in his opinion, it was a fair exchange. Especially with her newfound talent at cardistry. She could go through the deck very quickly if needed.

One thing really surprised him though. Playing cards were not invented ninety-five centuries ago. Just how far into the future had Byrone seen? Sure, there were some differences, like each card had a different color rather than the standard red and black. But even then, the same suits and the same structure were present. It was uncanny.

“There are two known loopholes in these rules. Let’s see if any of you can spot it,” interjected Don.

Silence permeated as all three of them were deep in thought about how the rules functioned, and where they allowed for a loophole.

“You said that if a card is drawn, it should be played, discarded, or returned to the bottom of the deck. You didn’t say that you should immediately play it though…” said Kwame, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, but it would be a passive mana hog then. Generally, when I discard it or return it to the deck, I get back the mana I spent. It takes mana to prime the card and keep it that way. I generally consider it as a one-time expenditure because I immediately use it upon priming. Not to mention I'd have to keep the deck out at all times," she said.

“You are both correct. The loophole is that you can place the card back at the top of the deck,” Don said.

“But doesn’t that go against the rule that says to place it at the bottom of the deck?” she asked.

“Partially. There is a mechanism, and the penalty itself aids it,” he said.

“How?” she asked.

“What happens when you place a card somewhere in the middle, instead of the bottom?”

“I get back the mana, and the other cards are locked until I either use the card or reshuffle.”

“So, it’s quite simple isn’t it?” he asked.

Moira scrunched her eyebrows for a moment before the same eyebrows shot up in surprise, eyes wide.

“I see you got it,” he said.

"Yes. If I place back the card at the top of the deck, I get back the mana, so there is no passive drain. The deck is locked, but it wouldn't matter anyway since I can easily unlock it by using that card," she exclaimed.

Don just nodded in response.

“So this trick can help her know which card is at the top at all times?” mused Parth.

"Affirmative. The cards don't change order when she summons and vanishes the whole deck. The order only changes when she has a few lying out during recall or uses all the fifty-four cards," said Don.

"I could keep reshuffling until I get a good first card," said Moira, sounding relieved.

“Yes, this is for when you have done an emergency recall of the cards. Or when you have used them all up. But for opening engagements, when you have the prep time, there is something else that you can do. I just gave you the clue right now,” he said.

Moira didn’t take much time to catch the clue, now that she knew along what lines to think.

“It reshuffles only when all the cards are used,” she said breathlessly.

“Bravo. You can’t directly see the order of the cards. This can help you bypass that,” Don said with a rare smile.

“Wait what is it?” asked Kwame. Parth was in the same boat as well, as he was still wrapping his head around the myriad rules this artifact had.

“It shuffles only when all the cards are used,” she repeated. She then drew a card, saw what it was, and placed it at the bottom. Her mouth moved wordlessly as she seemed to be counting each card. This repeated for a good while until she finally stopped.

She then picked the top card and smiled in satisfaction. She turned the card around, to show them all an ace of spades.

“Damn, so you can memorize the order of the deck this way,” said Kwame.

“It’s very hard. Even now I’ve forgotten what the next cards are. But yeah, when I have the time between engagements, I can prepare myself to act faster. Since I’d know what card would come next,” she said.

"Yes, so you might want to look up tips and tricks for memorization. Ask Celeste, she will provide you with the necessary resources," Don said.

“That’s quite convoluted,” said Parth.

“We have a saying here in Tava. ‘Byrone knows. You don’t.’ It is the case regarding most artifacts. Our best artificers have tried time and time again to find out how all these contraptions work, but we don’t glean much. Whatever little tidbit we find propels our magitech for a good amount of time. He was a man ahead of his time. I wonder what kinds of artifacts he'd make if he had the resources we have now," Don said as he turned towards Parth.

Nobody had anything to say to that, and Don kept staring intently at Parth. 

“It’s my turn,” Parth said pointlessly as he walked towards the center of the arena. To his surprise, Don followed him throughout the way and stood opposite him.

“Let me guess. There are no targets?”

“Unlike the others, you have been trained to fight. I will put that training to test,” said Don as four of his arms gripped the two polearms while the other two lingered above the holsters.

He then realized that he had jinxed himself when he previously thought about not having to fight six-armed people.

“Alright then,” he mumbled as the gauntlets materialized over his arms.

"Don't hesitate to use your fire on me. I have the means to protect myself. At the same time, I will also be fighting seriously. My ammunition doesn't have rounds that would cause serious damage, but that doesn't mean that it would hurt any less. Consider this to be a real battle," said Don.

Parth nodded and then took his usual stance and gazed at his opponent, waiting for him to make a move. There was a healer at hand too, so it wasn't that much of an issue. Although, he wouldn't let that thought drive him into complacency.

He knew that this was going to be a tough fight. But he was not one to shy away from a challenge.

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